The New Republic
by nadsteam1
Summary: Set five years after the end of war, Ahsoka Tano strides to rebuild her life in Coruscant's underworld, but is plunged back into her old life when an attack against the Jedi Order results in the destruction of one there most holy sights, and is brought face to face with a new enemy, bent on not only restarting the war, but the destruction of the Jedi Order itself.


Chapter 1: Jedha's Fall

The day had been warm, and the sun had spent no expense in warming the temples halls as Nix Leonis patrolled them on his nightly walk.

While others had spent the day safely ensconced in the temples gargantuan interior, He had spent the morning in the full sun, cataloging a newly discovered trove of artifacts that had lay buried beneath the desert landscape for almost a millennia and had then retreated into the temples hallway's to instruct the many padawan's of his findings.

A dull duty to many, but for a scholar such as himself, it was a chance of a lifetime,

He'd been brought into the Order at the age of four from his home world of Nal Hutta and had flourished under the tutelage of master Lexis Duval in the role as a counselor to troubled worlds within the middle and outer rim during the clone wars, but had since retired from active duty to pursue what he viewed as a more beneficial role to the order and the galaxy.

Humorously, he remembered that his friends had nicknamed him the librarian and joked that his eventual demise would be over stimulation from some of his many expeditions.

 _Well to hell with all of them_ , he thought, _I'll take a quiet day here, over a battalion of battle droids._

Inhaling a deep breath, he held it in and then let it go, clearing his mind as he felt the comforting, familiar, presence of the force enter his mind and further connect his mind to his surroundings. The air around him had been arid, but as he delved deeper into his meditation, the discomfort faded, and the warmth was replaced with a more comfortable temperature.

Closing his eyes, he continued to walk forward, his senses drifting over the many objects that filled the hallway before him and giving to him a variance of echo's that told of the many events that they had born witness to since their creation and gave off relatively vague hints of what could be and what might've been.

The ability was known as precognition, or battle sense in a more tactical setting, and allowed its user to anticipate events before they happened and act upon them to change the outcome. Granted it was a technique that virtually all Jedi were taught, but it was his natural observance to the force that had earned him such well deserved recognition as a diplomat and teacher to both Jedi and civilian alike.

Whissssh, Click!

He froze instantly, the sound had barely been audible over the breeze that blew off from the valley, but it was enough to draw his attention over to one of the outer columns of the hallway.

One of the other things that he was known for, yet not widely, was his mastery with a lightsaber pike, which he drew with practiced ease from his belt and held at the ready.

More often than not, his senses, while keen, had a tendency to play tricks on his senses. Thus the most that he expected when he approached the support columns was some sort of practical joke, or at the very most, a piece of rubble that had fallen from the roof of the building and caught on something.

Moving closer, he approached with an easy gait, but quickly felt himself falter when he got within arms length of the edge.

Something was wrong.

He wasn't sure what it was, but he could feel the balance of the force shift from the welcoming atmosphere he had immersed himself in, to something unwelcome and foreign.

A frown crossed his lips, this was no rubble, and certainly no joke, this was something far more...sinister.

Altering his stance, he placed one hand across his stomach, while the other that held his lightsaber turned so that the handle was held at a diagonal angle, and allow him to bring his weapon down upon an opponent and retreat quickly.

Palming his weapon, he tensed his muscles and readied himself as he spotted the object of his discomfort: a grappling hook.

At first he almost inwardly chastised himself for becoming so worked up over a single intruder, but quickly banished the notion when he leaned over the edge to see several more reaching out of the darkness to grab the ledge.

Loyal to his pupils and the order, his first instinct was to stay and dispatch the foes that dared trespass upon Jedha's holy ground, but as a drove of heavily armored figures ascending towards him, common sense quickly took over and he ran.

"Where under attack! Sound the alarm!"

Blaster fire answered his call, and chased him down the corridor as he ran.

Coming to a stairwell, he was forced to a stop when four combat droids stepped forward to block his pat. Moving quickly, he force threw the two outer warriors against the respective walls on each side, flipped his way over his remaining opponents and gave them the same treatment.

Leonis leapt and dodged laser bolts as they struck by his shoulder, reaching a ladder he climbed to the top of the security station and slammed his fist onto the control panel.

Hearing the alarms wail brought joy to his heart, but was instantly shattered as explosions and blaster fire began to echo through the interior.

Sensing something behind, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid the blow to his head, or the kick that doubled him over, nor the one that sent him pinwheeling into the control console, but was able to slap both of his hands down onto it's surface, spin himself around and force throw his opponent away from him.

He heard the grunt, and crash as the attacker fell.

Shaking his head, Leonis reached for his light saber and snapped his legs into a defensive stance.

"You made a mistake by coming." He said, positioning his weapon along the line of his form. "Now the order will know your here."

The attacker's response was a flash of green filling his hand, followed by not one, but three blazes of blue and green light, illuminating four white appendages, and long insect like body that towered far above the force users head.

"Let them come Jedi...their light sabers will make a fine addition to my collection."


End file.
